28044220081[1]

FEDERAL

ELECTION

COMMISSION

WASHINGTON,

D.C. 20463

Lyn

Utrecht, Esq.

Ryan,

Phillips, Utrecht

&

MacKinnon

1133

Connecticut Avenue,

NW,

#300Washington,

DC

20036

NOV

1 4

2008

RE:

MUR5950

Hillary

Clinton

for

President

and

Shelly Moskwa,

in her

official

capacityasTreasurer

Dear Ms.

Utrecht:

On

November

9,2007,

the

Federal Election Commission notified

you of a

complaintalleging violations of certain

sections

of the Federal

Election

Campaign Act of 1971, as amended("the

Act").

On October

30,2008,

the Commission

found,

on the

basis

of the information in thecomplaint,

information

provided

by

your clients,

and

publically-available information, that there

is no

reason

to

believe Hillary Clinton

for

President

and

Shelly Moskwa,

in her

official

capacity

as

Treasurer, violated

the

Act. Accordingly,

the

Commission closed

its

file

in

this matter.

Documents

case will

be

placed

on the

public record within

30

days.

See

Statement

of

Policy Regarding Disclosure

of

Closed Enforcement

and

Related Files,68Fed. Reg. 70,426 (Dec. 18,2003).TheFactualandLegal Analysis, which explainstheCommission's

findings, is

enclosed

for your

information.

If

you

have

any

questions, please contact Audra Wassom,

the

attorney assigned

to

thismatter,

at

(202) 694-1650.Sincerely

Mark

D.

ShonkwilerAssistant General CounselEnclosureFactual

and

Legal Analysis

FEDERAL

ELECTION COMMISSION

FACTUAL

AND

LEGAL ANALYSIS

RESPONDENTS:

Hillary Clinton

for

President

and

Shelly Moskwa, MUR: 5950

in

her

official

capacity as treasurer

I.

INTRODUCTION

The complaint in this matter involves allegations that Hillary Clinton for President and

Shelly

Moskwa,

in her

official

capacity

as

Treasurer,

("the

Committee")

accepted

campaigncontributions made in the name of another and accepted campaign contributions

from

foreignnationals without permanent resident status in violation of 2 U.S.C. §§ 441e and 44If. See MUR5950 Complaint.

II.

FACTS

The Complaint in this matter is based entirely on

information

reported in two newsarticles,

one

published

in the Los

Angeles Times ("the

Times")

on

October

19,2007,

and the

other

in the New

York Post ("the

Post")

on

October

20,2007.

!

Complainants generally allegethat several donors to Hillary Clinton for President were reimbursed by others for contributions,are illegal immigrants, or are non-existent persons. See Complaint at 1. Complainants point toseveral statements

from the two

articles that they believe substantiate their allegations.

For

example, the Times reported that it could not

find,

using property, telephone, or business records,one-thirdof 150donorswhoprovided checkstoClinton

after

fundraising

events which appeartohave targeted the New York City Chinese community, and that it was only able to reach 24 of 74

1

See

Peter Nicholas

& Tom

Hamburger, Clinton campaign taps into

an

unlikely

treasure-trove,

Los

ANGELESTIMES,

Oct. 19,2007,

available

of http://www.

latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-donorsl9octl9,0,4231217.story?coll=la-home-center

[hereinafter Los

ANGELES TIMES

article]; Charles

Hurt

&Elaine

Chan,

Hill's

cash

eyed

as

Chinese-laundered,

NEW

YORK

POST,

Oct.

20,2007, available

athttp://www.nypost.com/seven/10202007/news/nationalnews/hills_cash_eyed_as_chinese_lau.htm

[hereinafter

NEW

YORK POST

article].

Factual and Legal Analysis

Hillary

Clinton

for

President

and

Shelly Moskwa,

in her

official

capacity

as

treasurerMUR5950Page 2

New York resident donors it called or visited for comment. See Complaint at 1; Los

ANGELES

TIMES

article. The Times and Post also reported that the addresses listed for some contributorswere

business addresses,

and

that

in

some

cases,

neighbors

and

workers

visited

at the

addresses

by

newspaper reporters said they

had not

heard

of the

individual.

See

Complaint

at

1-3;

Los

ANGELES

TIMES

article;

NEW

YORK POST

article.

The

Times article also stated that

the

medianincomefor aparticularNew

York

City neighborhood,inwhich

many

donorswho hadcontributed $1,000

to the

Clinton campaign lived,

was

less

than $21,000

and

about

45% of the

populationwasliving belowthepoverty line, thus implying that individualsinthat neighborhoodcould

not

afford

contributions they reportedly made.

See

Complaint

at 2; Los

ANGELES TIMES

article. Complainants argue that this

information

provides a basis for investigating whether theClinton campaign accepted donations

from

non-existent persons and/or

foreign

nationals.Second, Complainants allege that the Times article demonstrates specific instances wheretheClinton campaign received campaign contributionsfromillegal immigrants barredfromcontributing under the Act. See Complaint at 1. The basis for this allegation is a report in theTimes article that one New

York

man who said he donated $2,500 to the Committee

"said

hecame

to the

United

States

from

China about

two

years

ago and